Pietro Badoglio

By this act, all ties with the dreadful past are broken, and my government will be proud to be able to march with you on to the inevitable victory.

Pietro Badoglio (September 28, 1871 – November 1, 1956) was an Italian soldier and politician. He was a member of the National Fascist Party and fought alongside his nation's troops under Benito Mussolini in the Second Italo-Abyssinian War; his efforts gained him the title Duke of Addis Abeba. He eventually signed an armistice with the Allies. Eventually from Malta on October 13, Badoglio and the Kingdom of Italy declared war against Nazi Germany. Badoglio did not stay as Prime Minister for long however, as world opinion at that stage desired a person with a non-Fascist past to head the government. By 1944, Badoglio was replaced by Ivanoe Bonomi of the Labour Democratic Party. He was never tried for war crimes by the allies because he helped them in the invasion of Italy.

Sourced

If I announce the armistice and the Americans don't send sufficient reinforcements and don't land near Rome, the Germans will seize the city and put in a puppet fascist government.

There is no doubt that Jacomoni and Visconti Prasca have a large share of the responsibility in the Albanian affair, but the real blame must be sought elsewhere. It lies entirely with the Duce's command. This is a command that he, the Duce, cannot hold. Let him leave everything to us, and when things go wrong let him punish those responsible.

Militarily it was impossible to invade with the dispositions we had made. We had only seven divisions in Albania. Two of them were necessary to hold the Albanian population from going into revolt. Two others were in reserve. That left us three divisions with which to undertake an offensive. Against us, the Greeks disposed of fifteen divisions. We might have been able to undertake an offensive had those figures been reversed.

The Germans will make a few scattered attacks, then go away. The Romans will enjoy a fine September.

Quoted in "Italy Betrayed" - by Peter Tompkins - Page 218

When Mussolini decided on war he did not take my advice or that of any other Army chief. In August 1939 the Duce had not been so sure about the invincibility of the Germans, and he told us that he had sought to persuade Hitler not to act.